Recent Challenges

Facts & Statistics

Further Reading

Recent Challenges

Healthcare

Inadequate Healthcare

Poor infrastructure does not allow the vast majority of Haitians access to healthcare. Many Haitians living in rural areas have no access to clinics or hospitals for lack of transportation. Most Haitians do not have cars; some have motorcycles, but even with such transportation, healthcare often remains hours away, sometimes due to sheer distance and other times, for lack of traversable roads. As a result, the vast majority of Haitians do not receive basic medical care, dental care, or important immunizations.

In contrast, diseases spread rapidly in Haiti for lack of modern systems of sanitation. Haiti has the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean, with some 300,000 cases, which constitutes nearly 5 percent of the population. Hepatitis, tuberculosis , and cholera are also prevalent in Haiti. Cholera is believed to have been first introduced to the Haitian population by UN workers in Port-Au-Prince and has since sickened over 500,000 people, with that number climbing in the aftermath of Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy. More than 7,000 Haitians have died as a result of this water-borne disease, which is highly treatable, if patients have rapid access to modern medical care. Many other illnesses and injuries would be highly-treatable, even curable, if all Haitians had access to modern, preventative medicine.